The Hillary email scandal and the Clinton Foundation scandal have been slithering, segment by segment, into public view.

And now we have “pay to play.”

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The implication is clear. “You want a favor from the State Department? Pay the Clinton Foundation.”

The National Review gives us the tip of the iceberg:

“Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain wanted a sit-down with Secretary Clinton but was rebuffed; Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band intervened through [Huma] Abedin to try to find a work-around for the crown prince, who gave donations to the Clinton Global Initiative totaling $32 million through 2010. Donations to the Clinton Foundation came in from the kingdom itself and from the state oil company. Band also intervened to secure a visa for a foreign athlete held up because of his criminal record, doing so at the behest of donor Casey Wasserman, a Hollywood sports-entertainment mogul, whose foundation has contributed between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation…”

But let’s put all this in the right perspective. Let’s reverse engineer this. The media has it backwards.

Heading up the State Department didn’t incidentally afford Hillary the opportunity to funnel cash into the Clinton Foundation, in return for granting favors to donors. No.

Head of the State Department was her side job. She was really an officer of the Foundation. And as such, she picked out a plum position that would allow her to expand the Foundation’s coffers: she became Secretary of State.

It would be like the son of a mafia crime boss landing a slot as a judge, so he could rule in favor of his father’s mob associates in court. The judgeship was just an angle, a way of serving the family. The family comes first.

Yes, as Secretary of State Hillary could remain in the public eye—an essential factor for her later run for President. And she could also exercise her passion for making war and wreaking havoc: Libya is a prime illustration. But behind it all, she has been Hillary Clinton of the Clinton Foundation.

Right now, as the latest chapter in the Clinton Foundation scandal is exploding, Bill, her husband, is promising to tighten Foundation rules for accepting donations. He’s presenting a typical mafia ploy: “The Family is getting out of the rackets. We’re going completely legit.”

Sure they are. Bill and Hillary have an itch that can never be scratched. They have to run a racket. They have to pile up money through cons and schemes and payoffs. That will never change.